Grand Slam Champion
A Grand Slam Champion in professional wrestling is a distinction made to a professional wrestler who has won all of the major titles in a promotion. The Grand Slam typically consists of four titles, mirroring the grand slams found in golf and tennis. The four titles typically feature three tiers of heavyweight belts and a set of tag team belts. Because of this, a Grand Slam Champion is necessarily a Triple Crown Champion, which consists of the top two tiers of heavyweight belts and the tag team belts. World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment In the World Wrestling Federation (now known as "World Wrestling Entertainment") the term "Grand Slam Champion" was originally used by Shawn Michaels to describe himself upon winning the WWF Championship, the WWF Intercontinental Championship, the WWF European Championship and the WWF Tag Team Championship. As of 2007, only four wrestlers have held all four of those titles. As the European Championship was discontinued on July 22, 2002, the number of future potential Grand Slam Champions is limited to wrestlers who have already held the European Championship (see list of WWE European Champions). In 2006, World Wrestling Entertainment stated, "Michaels was the first-ever Grand Slam Champion, capturing the European Championship once, the World Tag Team Championship four times, the Intercontinental Championship three times and the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships a total of four times." This indicates that WWE considers the World Heavyweight Championship to be an acceptable substitute for the WWF Championship (renamed the WWE Championship in 2002) in completing the Grand Slam. No wrestlers have completed the Grand Slam under this revised definition. In April 2006, Kurt Angle was described as a "former Grand Slam Champion" on WWE.com, indicating that WWE considers the WWE Tag Team Championship to be an acceptable substitute for the World Tag Team Championship. Including Angle, two wrestlers have completed the Grand Slam under this revised definition. WWF/E Grand Slam Champions The title wins stated below are the respective wrestlers' first wins of each title. In most cases, it is not the only time the wrestler has won that title. Dates in italics indicate that the wrestler has won that title, but does not contribute to their Grand Slam because they had already won a title at that level. Dates in bold represent the title which established the wrestler as a Grand Slam champion. : -won Grand Slam under the original definition : --won Grand Slam with an alternate title : --Won title as a member of the RAW brand : --Won title as a member of the SmackDown! brand : --Won title as a member of the ECW brand :White indicates title was won before brand extension Potential champions The following active (or semi-active) wrestlers are potential Grand Slam Champions, all having previously held three major titles: *Val Venis, William Regal and Jeff Hardy require a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship reign to complete the Grand Slam. *John "Bradshaw" Layfield requires an Intercontinental Championship reign to complete the Grand Slam.